Watch the Artist, Part 2

Thanks for checking in again. I hope this little drawing is holding your interest. This is the second stage of my process with this drawing. First of all, let's review where we've been. We started with a simple line drawing in graphite of the figure that established composition on the page and proportions. Now, we've undone everything we started with. Honestly, I went back over the drawing with a drafting cleanup bag and almost completely obliterated the original graphite until it was barely a ghosted image. Then, as I removed a few lines I replaced them with prismacolor pencil. I didn't do that all at once. I went very slowly and carefully one line at a time. This is definitely not a time to rush through the work. We all know that every fine piece of artwork begins with a top-notch drawing. Without that, what have you got? Nothing. In this stage I've replaced the graphite with a very subtle neutral pinkish color. I'm still just wanting a ghost of an image. This will be the framework to which we'll ad color and light. As you can see, our guy looks a lot more substantial now. As I replaced the line work I also began modeling forms with a very soft hatching. This is not a step that is supposed to stand out. When I work in this step I like to think of applying the pigment as you would be sprinkling the paper with powder. There is nothing in this stage that is applied so intensely that it can't be edited easily. Just while I've been looking at this drawing while I've been writing I've seen some spots that need editing. I don't really like the balance in the foreground of the tile work on the floor. There appears to be more on the right than the left. So, I'm about to get the kneaded eraser and remove from the right and then add to the left. I'll keep you posted. Click on the picture to see an enlarged version.